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I am hoping to finish with Paul Stockmans wonderful confabulation routine. The "gimmick" arrived today in the mail (DO NOT MENTION WHAT IT IS IN THIS THREAD) and it seems that it will work fine.

I was wondering one thing though, should I get all three of them right?
This will be the finale to an act and while it looks more "real" and more like "psychological influencing" to get the month wrong, and then the next two correct, would it ruin the ending of a show?

What do you think?
Personally, when I do On the Mark, a thought of card to wallet effect, I always CHOOSE to go one suit off.


Tom
xx

yes you absolutly must, must, must get all 3 right.

Its only 3 things.


less than 100% looks like guesswork, and that aint magic.


Its Failure.

I agree with Dale. By all means get things wrong earlier on in the show, but unless there's an immediate twist to the miss in the finale, (such as a callback to an earlier miss) then keep it simple and get everything right.

I don't really get this obsession with getting things wrong deliberately. There are enough mentalism methods which are likely to succeed, but can go wrong (psychological forces or naked mentalism type stuff for example). Why not leave things like that to chance rather than deliberately getting it wrong...

I can see why it's maybe a good idea on occasion if you're pretending to be 'the real deal', but I think it can be over done.

Having said that, I don't have the same performance experience of some people here, so I should probably be quiet....

[edit] not aimed specifically at Eshly, in case it looks like it is...

And why do you insist on getting everything at least a little bit wrong?

In a typical set I get at most, one thing wrong...and even that is rare...

More often that not I try to hit everything, and when I am genuinely wrong, that can be my "almost but not correct" answer.

I say always get it 100% correct, unless there is a specific twist relying on you being wrong, because eventually you'll f*ck up anyways!

When you start working with a real audience paying to get it right, you'll see what I mean.

The most important thing is to do what you are paid to do - read people's minds! Not "claim to read minds but always get it wrong"

A few years ago, i saw Kennedy in an evening show, with several other mentalists. He did Russian roulette, as well as loads of other stuff.

now, i like Ken, and count him as a mate.

but he did have the opinion that you should get things wrong.

he may still have. I know he likes to take risks.

but the thing is this. i actually heard several of the audience slag him off in the foyer on the way out, because they felt robbed. they paid good money to see someone do a bad job.

the remark i will never forget is

shame the little fu**er got the gun trick right.

i think it depends on what the confabulation is...

because if one reveal was say "FRANCE", i think "PARIS" would look just as good...

the best bet though - is to try it out and see what reactions you get...

ah,ok.. but then, since this is a finale effect... the order is important.
your first reveal could be close.the other two spot on. That way they Dont go away remembering the near thing.


because to a layperson the near thing is still technically a miss.

If you have any routines which involve an oppotunity for it to go completley awry, as I'm sure many of us do, then you'll want to leave room for failure there. Of course when the riskier one's work it is that much more miraculous and equally the odd failure can be deceptivley convinving.
Ultimatley, I think it comes down to your guilt. If you think they will find it too suspicious if you get is spot on then they will. If you demonstrate your alleged acting ability then then you can learn to believe in your skills. But from the audience's perspective someone getting it 'nearly' right can be very tedious. Trust me.. I used to be too scared to get it spot on because subterfuge would be expected- but I have long since lost any guilt (and dignity ) and I expect them to believe and they do. I think if there is anything I learned they actually believe you more if you are accurate (Seems simple and... well, it is.)- but it is disgressionary and subject to personal judgment.

It all comes down to experience and actually performing.

I don't think it's important to get things wrong, just not to get them exactly right immediately. It looks a bit suspicious in my humble opinion.

I also think in mentalism some answers can be more right than the "right" answer. In the example above of "Paris" instead of "France", it's a fairly safe bet that most people who do not regularly holiday in France (or maybe even those that do) will picture the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph. You could reveal this as France and then ask if they were specifically thinking of Paris/Eiffel Tower.

Deliberately being a million miles out though has never made much sense to me.

Can I just point out that currantly ALL of my show can be done to 100% accuracy - it does not rely upon "psychology" for real at any point, nor upon chance or luck.

By the way, in this confabulation, all three revelations are revealed at once, they cannot be revealed one by one.

I was thinking of getting the month slightly wrong. For example if they say:

January
21st
7:02pm

And I say...

Febuary
21st
7:02pm


... its SO close. It is beyond all mathmatical probability, and yet it still leaves an error and so room to make people think it is NOT a trick.

When I perform On The Mark, I always get the colour right and the value right, but the suit wrong; this stops it looking like a magic trick. I simply worry that for a finale, this would be... risky.


I do not think for a moment the audiance would feel like wanting a refund just because out of a whole routine/act/performance I got "Febuary" instead of "January".

get one minute off instead of one month...

if you guess, its only 1 in 12 eh...

PS2 - greg arce's work on 'seperation'...read it and have a think...

i think if you build the drama..and fall flat, it can throw a curve-ball into the procedures...why would you get it wrong on purpose? or indeed, porpoise...

why make yourself look a ninny infront of people if its all just a trick? so...sometimes, yes...in my opinion only...it can sometimes be worthwhile being off a little during some presentations...

its SO close

no it's not its a whole month out!


Gordon bennet tom. if i said, Look Ill pay your wages, but not now, I will do it in 31 days time, would you say ok.. close enough?

no.

And I cant for the life of me workout why Anybody in their right mind spends good money on an effect, and then deliberately f*** it up, so it doesn't work.

It strikes me that getting too far off the mark is going to get you connected with the worse end of the psyhic market rather than magic. It's a step away from, "I sense there is someone here with a vowel in their name". It starts to seem like blind guesses rather than a proper prediction.